Flatwork ironer



Dec. 24, 1929. c. E. HAMILTON 1,740,980

FLATWORK IHONER Filed July 3. 1926 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 I u l I I) l i f 17 /4- H H |J INVENTOR. afdwin Ham/Hon.

ATTORNEY Dec. 24, 1929. c. E. HAMILTON FLATWORK IRONER Filed July 3. 1926 5 Sheets-Sheet m m m m Qciqk A TTORNE Y EdwIh Hamil/on.

Dec. 24, 1929. c, HAMILTON 1,740,980

FLATWORK IRONER Filed July 3. 1926 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 IN V EN TOR.

75 C. Edwin H am/l Ion I, I a 25 24 I8 I I i A'TTORNEY Patented Dec. 24, 1929 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CHARLES EDWIN HAMILTON, OF LOS ANGELE, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR TO EDWIN LANE, PERCY MENDELSON, AND CHARLES MENDELSON, ALL OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

FLATWORK IRON ER Application filed July 3,1926. Serial No. 120,275.

The invention relates to laundry machinery, more especially to flat work ironers of the chest or cylinder type.

It has for its objectto materially increase the life of the cover cloth of the rolls thereof and enhance its effectiveness by providing means in connection with the said rolls for preventing the cloth from dropping down or backwardly and fipassing in a folded condition under a said roll. In the operation of these ironers after a short period of use this frequently occurs due to drying out and hardening of the cover material resulting in the latter acquiring welts which leave imprints and high lights on the linens-quite as obj ectionable as the usual string marks. The common practice is to remove the impaired cover cloth if not too badly broken, then rinse and extract the same and again replace it on the roll after first having been ironed substantially dry all of which necessitates shutting down of the machine. Furthermore, the cloth in many instances becomes so badly creased that in a short time it breaks and must be discarded. n

The invention has for a further object additional means associated with the individual rolls and cover clbth thereon whereby the linen passing through the machine is more effectively stripped therefrom and the usual string marks substantially obliterated. Also, the invention has for its object .to shut off automatically the roll driving mechanism in the event of the said stripping means becoming jammed or clogged by the linen.

The nature of the invention, however, will best be understood when described in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary elevation showing the novel guide means associated with a roll of a chest type of ironing machine.

Figure 2 is a transverse section, taken on the line 22, Figure 1, and looking in the direction of the-arrows.

Figure 3 is a fragmentary and partial l'ongitudinal section illustrating a modification.

Figure 4 is a detail fragmentary transverse section through a roll provided with the novel guide and stripping fingers illustrated in Figure 3.

Figure 5 is a detail fragmentary plan of thei finger carrying bar shown in Figures 3 an 4.

Figure 6 is a fragmentary elevation of the nger carrying bar associated with a roll.

Figure 7 is a sectional view taken on the line 7-7, Figure 6, and looking in the direc- "same being of any well known or special design and provided with standard mechanism (not shown) for rotating the individual rolls, and with the usual safety mechanism (indicated at 12 and of the nature, for example, of that set forth in U. S. Letters Patent N 0. 1,148,739) for automatically arresting the operation of said mechanism. Moreover, in connection with one form of the apparatus hereinafter set forth, the usual strings 13 need be associated only with the first few rolls, as indicated, to prevent the articles from wrapping around the roll, stripper fingers being substituted for the strings at the remaining rolls and thus obliterating the string marks as far as possible-at times, even entirely.

The individual rolls 10 are covered with a cloth covering 14 of suitable material, usually hair padding, wool padding or knitted padding and which is frictionally held thereon by being wound thereover with lapped portion 15 to insure retention of the cover on the roll surface. As hereinafter stated, said cover cloth, particularly at the lapped portion 15, has a tendency to work away from the underlying cloth portion on the return travel,the lapped portion thus frequentlybreaking away and doubling over, or permitting the cover cloth as a whole to creep relatively to its support roll 10. This, of course, necessitates removal of the cover of ironing rolls 10 adapted to iron from the particular roll in question and refitting of the same with a new cover or a reconditioned cover. Where the failure of the cover cloth 14 is not noticed immediately,

the doubling may progress to a stage where sitioned over the respective rolls and removthe cover will be rendered unfit for further use.

In accordance with the invention, and more particularly in connection with the embodiment illustrated in Figures 1 and 2, there is provided longitudinally of each individual roll, a pair of inwardly directed arms 16 po- .resilient fingers 19 are directed downwardly to make contact with the corresponding roll surface, or rather the cover cloth 14 thereof, and on the feed side of a roll. These fingers are rigidly secured to the arms and curved to conform more or less to the roll surface, ex-

tending somedistance below the center of the roll and being distributed atsuitable intervals along the same so as to eliminate any dan er of the cover cloth dropping backwar y or folding upon itself. T ey will thus serve to retain said cover cloth, part cularly the lap portion thereof, to a roll durrng the period of movement when it might ordinar ly drop or break away from the underlying portion.

In the modification illustrated in Figures 3 to 7 a continuous supporting member 20 for guard fingers 21 is set forth, "and the guard fingers are supported on angle pieces 22 to which they are rigidly attached. A said angle piece, in turn, is carried by the T-bar 20- and is hinged to the web thereof to enable a set of guard fingers 21 to be adjusted relatively to the roll surface near the point of entry of the goods fed to the machine, also, for convenience in returning the bar as a whole to active position after hafiing been removed from contact with a r0 Furthermore, the T-bar 20 as a whole may be mounted to rock in one direction when carrying the stripper fingers hereinafter set forth; and to this end substantially one half of its arm portion at the ends of a bar rests upon a flatsurface of blocks 23 secured to the upper edges of the, pressure arms 18, while the other half may be rocked to contact with an inclined extension 24 of said flat surface. Thus, when an obstruction moves, for example, under one or more of thesaid stripper fingers and is sufiicient to exceed its elastic resistance, the said bar as a whole will be rocked thereby. A pair of tilting levers 25 pivoted to the sides of the respective pressure arms 18 is also arranged to engage the said bar to tilt the same to a position in which access may be had to a roll, and the outer arm of a lever is adapted to engage a suitable stop pin 26 to retain a bar in the removed position. Use is made, also, of the rocking movement of the T-bar to actuate the usual automatic stop mechanism of the apparatus, an arm portion 12 thereof being indicated, to shut down the ironing machine as a whole so that damage done to the material passing through the rolls will be a minimum; The web of the T-bar for this gers stripper devices, more or less of the na-.

ture of resilient fingers 30 as are set forth in U. S. Letters Patent No. 1,186,640. It appears, however, that in order to render such stripper fingers commercially effective, it is necessary to point the active ends thereof so that the fingers more readily work under the material being stripped. Generally, the strippers will be associated with the further rolls only, as with the first and second rolls stripper fingers alone are not so effective and the usual strin s 13 are retained, the strings being dispensed with in connection with the successive stripper-equipped rolls. The said fingers 30 may be rigidly attached to the T- bar 20 ;but it is preferred to so attach the same that although normally movable as a whole with said bar, a set may be moved manually relatively thereto should this become necessary for any reason, as in the event of jamming or clogging of the material being ironed or of the cover cloth, or both. To this end, the individual fingers are secured to an angle piece, the vertically disposed arm 32 of which is'hingedly secured to the web of the T-bar while the horizontally dis osed arm 33 thereof fixedly carries the ngers and is arranged to be positively secured to the corresponding arm of the T-bar to insure the automatic shut-01f by rocking of the -T-bar. Swinging bolts 34 with thumb nuts 35 are designed for this purpose to fit into registering slots 36 and 37 respectively in the horizontal arm 32 and the T-bar 20. When the bolts are released from the angle piece, the latter may be swung upwardly to allow'the lifting of a set of fingers 30.

The stripper fingers work most effectively so long as the cover cloth is maintained .pointing the finger tips, the

straight, which is insured by the guard fingers disposed at the back of a roll. An uneven surface would cause the said stripper fingers to jump up out of the way of incom ing goods, resulting in jamming or clogging thereof and also in the said stripper fingers becoming caught in the goods. However, by

freely enter beneath the goods to strip the same from the cover cloth. These fingers ride over the comparatively smooth covered surface of a roll, which surface is maintained in a substantially smooth condition by the guard fingers; and only by thus keeping the coyer cloth smooth at all times can one hope to make use of stripper fingers which insure the maximum elimination of the dreaded string marks. The machine will thus function over long periods without requiring any particular attention or shut down.

d When it does become necessary to uncover and recover a roll, this is readily accomplished in the embodiment illustrated in F igures 1 and 2merely by lifting out the holding arms 16 from their respective sockets 17, the guard fingers 19 following. In the modification in which stripper fingers are also associated with the guard fingers and provision made for the automatic stopping of the machine through failure of the former fingers, the trip rods 27 are first disconnected from the T-bars, the angle pieces for the fingers then raised and carrying with them the respective fingers, whereupon the particular bar or bars is or are swung upwardly and over about the respective pivot points until stopped by engagement of the levers with corresponding stop pins 26. This will serve to hold the bar at a suitable angle to cause it to remain in a position free and clear of the corresponding roll.

I claim:

, 1. In a fiat work ironer including ironing rolls with lapped cover cloth: guard members associated with the individual rolls at the feed side and bearing upon said cover cloths thereof over a substantial portion of the upper quadrant of a roll to retain the lap portion in position.

2. In a fiat work ironer including ironing rolls with lapped cover cloth: resilient fingers distributed at the feed side of a roll along 1ts length and bearing upon said cover cloths thereof over a substantial portion of the upper quadrant of a roll to retain the lap portion in position.

3. In a flat work ironer including a framing and ironing rolls with lapped cover cloth supported in the framing: a holding bar disposed transversely of the ironer and carried thereby, guard members attached to the said holding bar over its length at the feed side of a roll and bearing upon its cover cloth to retain the lap portion in position, and an arm pivoted to the framing and connected with said fingers more bar for removing the bar and attached guard members from a roll.

4. In a flat workironer including. a framing and pressure arms, ironing rolls with lapped cover cloth supported by the framing: a T-bar mounted on the pressure arms of the ironer, an angle piece hinged to the web thereof along the length of the bar, and resilient fingers carried by said angle piece and bearing upon said cover cloth to retain the lap portion in position.

5. In a flat work ironer including ironing rollswith lapped cover cloth: a bar mounted transversely on the ironer, means adapted to enable it to rock in one direction only, resilient fingers carried by said bar and bearing upon said cover cloth, and safety mechanism actuated by the rocking of said bar.

6. In a flat work ironer including ironing rolls with lapped cover cloth: a bar mounted transversely on the ironer above a roll, blocks supporting the bar at its ends and havin inclined surfaces to permit the bar to roe thereon in one directlon only, resilient fingers carried by said bar and bearing upon the cover cloth of said roll, and safety glechanism actuated by the rocking of said 7. In a flat work ironer including ironing rolls with lapped cover cloth, and safety stop mechanism for arresting the rotation of the rolls: a rockable bar extending transversely of the ironer and carried thereby above a roll, resilient fingers carried by the bar to rock the same when engaged by an obstruction of the roll, which fingers bear upon said cover cloth of said roll, and a connection between the said rockable bar and the safety stop mechanism whereby when said bar is rocked by the fingers the stop mechanism will be actuated to arrest the rotation of the rolls.

8. In a fiat work ironer including ironing rolls with lapped cover cloth: an oscillatable holding bar extending transversely of the ironer, guard members associated with the individual rolls at the feed side and bearin upon said cover cloth thereof to retain the lap portion in position, and resilient stripper fingers carried by said holding bar and bearing upon said cover cloth at the opposite side of the roll.

9. In a flat work ironer including ironing rolls with lapped cover cloth: an oscillatable T-bar extending transversely of the ironer and carried thereby, guard members carried by one of the arms of said bar and hinged to the web thereof, and resilient stripper fingers carried by the opposite arm of said bar and hinged to the opposite side of the web.

10. In a flat work ironer including ironing rolls with lapped cover cloth: an oscillatable T-bar extending transversely of the ironer and carried thereby, angle pieces hingedlv attached to opposite sides of the web of the T- bar and resting upon the respective arms of 1 said bar, sets of resilient stripper fingers carried by the respective angle p1eces and bearing upon the cover cloth at opppsitesides of a roll, and means to secure temporarily one set of the fingers through its respective angle piece to one of said arms.

11. In a flat work ironer including ironing rolls with lapped cover cloth: an oscillatable T-bar extending transversely of the ironerand carried thereby, angle pieces hingedly attached Ito/opposite sides of the web of the T-bar and resting u on the respective arms of said bar, sets of resllient stripper fingers carried by the respective angle pieces and hearing upon the cover cloth at opposite sides of a roll, swinging bolts carried by the T-bar and adapted to extend into registering slots of the angle piece and arm for one set of fingers, and thumb nuts on said bolts to hold the said angle piece and arm rigidly together.

12. In a fiat work ironer, including ironing rolls with a lapped cover cloth: resilient narrow stripper fingers secured to a support at their inner ends and having free outer ends, said fingers being flat adjacent their free ends and decreasing 1n width towards such ends to afford an approximate point contact longitudinally of the rolls with the aforesaid lapped cover cloth.

13. In a flat work ironer, including ironing rolls with a lapped cover cloth: resilient narrow stripper fingers secured to a support at their inner ends and havingfree outer ends,

said fingers bein flat adjacent their free ends and decreasing 1n width'towards such'ends to afford an approximate point contact longitudinally of the rolls with the aforesaid lapped cover cloth and the extreme end of such fingers being of rounded contour and extremely thin.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

C. EDWIN HAMILTON. 

